Last week we had a busy couple of days in Brussels. On Tuesday we spent the entire day in the European Parliament with our colleagues from CDM Watch. We met with several Members of the European Parliament and other officials working in the Parliament that look into technical and scientific issues for MEPs. At the end of the day, feet aching from walking the endless corridors of the building (getting lost more than once!) we were really happy with the progress made.

We’ve ecountered some real enthusism from MEPs to tackle the issue of HFC-23 and there are plans afoot to raise awareness of the issue and seek to swift resolution in the European Emissions Trading Scheme. We’ve been in a very interesting NGO strategy meeting with a large number of NGOs that work on CDM/carbon market issues.

Fin gave a presentation of the HFC-23 campaign to date and there were discussions on N2O, biofuels, waste and coal – all of these areas are posing serious problems in terms of attaining true emission reductions under the UN Kyoto Protocol. With the EU taking the lead on pushing for a truly sustainable climate, Brussels was definitely the place to be and we’ll no doubt be back there soon.

For further information on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) click here and here.